Although child abuse and neglect is a tragic social problem affecting the lives of many individuals worldwide, the way it is defined, prevented and treated differs from country to country. This unique international survey allows readers to identify the differences and similarities that exist among a variety of cultures when it comes to defining and preventing the problem. Scholars in the field have provided qualitative and quantitative data on the many issues surrounding this universal problem in 16 different countries chosen to represent all regions of the world. Each chapter addresses one country and explores the ways in which it approaches the problem, including: the history of child abuse, how child abuse is defined, the prevalence of abuse, child protection and legal actions taken when abuse is suspected, remedial services available for families and abused children, legal innovations available for child witnesses/victims of abuse, legislative reforms, legal ramifications for offenders, and preventative measures. Readers can choose one or more of these aspects and compare how each differs from country to country. These cross-cultural comparisons can help readers identify how each country's historical perspective and definition of child abuse and neglect determines how each society identifies, prevents and treats the issue, why the problem persists, and what might be done to prevent it worldwide.

An examination of the historical experience of African Americans as a case study of America's legacy of racial violence. In this comprehensive overview of how the law has been used to combat racism, author Christopher Waldrep points out that the U.S. government has often promoted discrimination. A veritable history of civil rights, the story is told primarily through a discussion of key legal cases. Racial Violence on Trial also presents 11 key documents gathered together for the first time, from the Supreme court's opinion in Brown v. Mississippi to a 1941 newspaper account entitled The South Kills Another Negro, to a 1947 New Yorker piece, Opera in Greenville, about a crowd of taxi drivers who killed a black man. Also included are a listing of key people, laws, and concepts; a chronology; a table of cases; and an annotated bibliography. Four narrative chapters examine the history of black-white relations since America was founded A-Z entries cover important people, laws, events, and concepts and a special documents section includes court decisions, magazine stories, and personal accounts

Violence has become a ubiquitous phenomenon in our world. Occurring daily across the globe, violence is sparked by diverse and complicated societal and political factors. While certain aspects of violence such as terrorism have received increasing scrutiny in recent years, violence has rarely been examined as a political phenomenon in and of itself.

Emphasizing the importance of memory, narrative, and political solidarity, The Legitimization of Violence enlists illuminating case studies for comparison, within a general framework of discourse theory. Not merely a description of events, the book explores how violence evolves and takes on a life of its own, thereby enhancing our fundamental understanding of the phenomenon of political violence itself.

Violence, nationalism, and politics are inextricably linked in such controversial political movements as Neo-Nazism in contemporary Germany and the Shi'ia in Lebanon. By analyzing the diverse factors which lead to violent acts, the essays in this volume address the complexity and the correlations between politics and violence. International scholars assess such groups as the Shining Path in Peru and the E.T.A. in Spain's Basque country to reveal how political violence affects the chaotic living condition of millions of people worldwide.

Violence against women is a key concern for society and feminism. Organizing for social, political and legal change in relation to violence is a pressing issue, and through the critical appraisal of approaches adopted by the anti-violence movement in a variety of countries, this book informs future strategy and approaches when organizing against violence. Lesley McMillan provides the first detailed comparative account of women's anti-violence movement in Western countries, ideally suited for upper-level students interested in this fascinating topic.

Childhood sexual abuse (or child sexual abuse/CSA) is not only an assault on the body-it is an assault on the mind and on the spirit. It is an insult to the victim's integrity, her self-esteem, his very being. Besides imposing a significantly higher risk of conditions like depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), sexual exploitation, intimate partner violence, suicidality, substance abuse, and learning & educational difficulties, the most devastating consequence of childhood sexual abuse is shame. Freedom at Last will help victims of this form of abuse recover from all aspects of this extreme shame and its damaging after-effects. Not only does shame from CSA cause a multitude of problems, but this very same shame stands in the way of a victim's ability to recover and heal. Victims often struggle with shame's correlation with dissociation, difficulty forming relationships, emotional barriers to disclosing abuse and seeking help, and a lasting negative effect on victim's sense of self. In this groundbreaking book, leading psychologist Dr. Beverly Engel reveals the truth about how CSA affects victims, dispels common myths surrounding this type of abuse, explains the nuances behind the emotion of shame, and teaches readers how to develop more self-awareness about how shame has manifested in their lives along with powerful and effective shame-reduction strategies. Freedom at Last offers effective strategies for not only healing the negative effects of abuse-related shame, but also to help overcome the shame that keeps survivors from seeking help. Using the most recent research along with her 35-year career working with victims of child sexual abuse, Dr. Engel provides a blueprint for readers and their loved ones to overcome the debilitating effects of shame, including strategies for emotional release, encouragement to free themselves from their secrets, teaching self-forgiveness, eliminating shame-causing behaviors, and removing shame from unhealthy behaviors and attitudes.

The divisive and malleable nature of history is at its most palpable in situations of intractable conflict between nations or peoples. In these circumstances, how each party interprets or appropriates historical accounts informs their understanding of the roots of the conflict as well as how they relate to and interact with their adversaries. This book aims to advance our understanding of the significance of history in informing the relationship between parties involved in intractable conflicts through the concept of thick recognition and by exploring its relevance specifically in relation to Israel. It suggests that the recognition of crucial identity elements, such as widely shared understandings of history, might increase the potential for relationship transformation in intractable conflicts. More widely, the book discusses how the Israeli debates over New History can be understood as related to processes of conflict transformation as well as seeking answers to what can be seen as facilitating and inhibiting circumstances for the introduction of new understandings of history in the debates on Israeli New History.

The Sunday Times and New York Times Bestseller. Although Jodie is only eight years old, she is violent, aggressive, and has already been through numerous foster families. Her last hope is Cathy Glass

Cathy, an experienced foster carer, is pressured into taking Jodie as a new placement. Jodie's challenging behaviour has seen off five carers in four months but Cathy decides to take her on to protect her from being placed in an institution.

Jodie arrives, and her first act is to soil herself, and then wipe it on her face, grinning wickedly. Jodie meets Cathy's teenage children, and greets them with a sharp kick to the shins. That night, Cathy finds Jodie covered in blood, having cut her own wrist, and smeared the blood over her face.

As Jodie begins to trust Cathy her behaviour improves. Over time, with childish honesty, she reveals details of her abuse at the hands of her parents and others. It becomes clear that Jodie's parents were involved in a sickening paedophile ring, with neighbours and Social Services not seeing what should have been obvious signs.

It s clear that Josie needs psychiatric therapy, but instead Social Services take Jodie away from her, and place her in a residential unit. Although the paedophile ring is investigated and brought to justice, Jodie s future is still up in the air. Cathy promises that she will stand by her no matter what her love for the abandoned Jodie is unbreakable."

This book explores the dynamics of excessive violence, using a broad range of interdisciplinary case studies. It highlights that excessive violence depends on various contingencies and is not always the outcome of rational decision making. The contributors also analyse the discursive framing of acts of excessive violence.

"Citizenship and Political Violence in Peru" recounts the hidden history of how local processes of citizen formation in an Andean town were persistently overruled from the nineteenth century on, thereby perpetuating antagonism toward the Peruvian state and political centralism. The analysis points to the importance of two long-term processes. One reflected the memory of earlier municipal citizenship and the possibilities of political change; the other stemmed from the outlawing of political opposition which pushed radical dissent underground and into extremism, creating the conditions for the political violence in the 1980s. The book builds on the detailed study of a unique municipal archive in Tarma and ethnographic research from both before and after the violence.

My Horses, My Healers begins as a childhood drama of sexual abuse in the life of the author, and through the healing power of interacting with horses, Shelley Rosenberg transforms her experience into a protocol for self-healing through the willingness to be with the horse. For riders of all ages, for anyone who has experienced alienation from their own human kind in their days, for anyone who loves horses-this book resonates with the good that can come from watching horses and humans interact and teach one another about the language of direct communication, feelings, and healing through truthful speaking of our emotions.

Covering a period from the late eighteenth century to today, this volume explores the phenomenon of urban violence in order to unveil general developments and historical specificities in a variety of Middle Eastern contexts. By situating incidents in particular processes and conflicts, the case studies seek to counter notions of a violent Middle East in order to foster a new understanding of violence beyond that of a meaningless and destructive social and political act. Contributions explore processes sparked by the transition from empires - Ottoman and Qajar, but also European - to the formation of nation states, and the resulting changes in cityscapes throughout the region.

This book addresses the development of our understanding of the abuse and neglect in the lives of children with disabilities. Disabilities in childhood uniquely dispose children for their abuse and neglect. Additionally, abuse and neglect dispose children for disabilities. The care and education of children with disabilities requires unique knowledge and skills and so does the consideration of their abuse and neglect. This book is based on data generated from an analysis of cases involving the abuse and neglect of children with disabilities as well as on an analysis of the data based literature in this area. Readers are provided with analysis and reflection exercises throughout the text so that they may analyze and reflect on their own awareness of the abuse and neglect of children with disabilities. Each chapter also contains a set of implications for research and practice. The final chapter focuses directly on prevention. Caregivers and professionals across disciplines will develop a new understanding of their roles in universal, secondary, and tertiary level prevention that is targeted, focused, data-based, and designed to prevent the abuse and neglect of children with disabilities in the first place.

Literature in the child abuse and child protection arena has tended to adopt either a practice or legal perspective. Drawing on their expertise as researchers and leaders in their field, Julia Davison and Antonia Bifulco offer a comprehensive and cohesive book on child abuse and child protection, drawing on both criminological and psychological perspectives on all forms of child maltreatment and child protection practice together with impacts on the victims. This book considers a range of areas, from definitions of child abuse and discussions of its prevalence, to an examination of the experiences of children in care, to international perspectives on children within the criminal justice system, to the emergence of online child abuse and the increasing awareness of historical abuse. Each chapter draws together key elements in the field, including prevalence and definition, different disciplinary approaches; different practice challenges; international impacts; and technological issues. Brief case studies throughout the book reflect the voice or experience of the child, ensuring that the focus remains on the child at the centre of the abuse. Balancing coverage of theory and research and considering implications for practice and policy, this book will appeal to a range of disciplines, including criminology, psychology, psychiatry, social work and law.

Children are recruited to fight in conflicts around the world and violent cruelty characterizes many of the conflicts in which children participate. Some children are perpetrators of some of the worst acts of depraved murder, disfigurement, and terrorism imaginable. They then struggle to reintegrate into communities that were victims of the violence. Taking into account the interests of children and other victims of conflict, and considering the needs of post-conflict communities, this book examines and offers suggestions for how transitional justice practices should conceptualize and address the involvement of child soldiers in violent collective harm.
This book will appeal to a wide range of scholars from International Relations, Criminal Justice, Law, Philosophy, Sociology, Anthropology, Development and African Studies.

This annotated bibliography reviews scholarly work on acquaintance and date rape published in recent years. Acquaintance rape research has grown significantly since the mid-1980s, and it is often argued that acquaintance rape is a common occurrence, especially on college campuses. It is also argued that this type of sexual assault is very different from stranger rape, principally because of the socially defined and accepted nature of the relationship between the victim and the perpetrator.

Works specifically on acquaintance or date rape are included, as well as earlier works that led to the emergence of the separate conceptual category of acquaintance rape. Each work is summarized, and the annotation includes a statement of the purpose, the method, and the major findings of the work. Separate chapters are devoted to the incidence of acquaintance rape; its social correlates; and its causes, effects, treatment, and prevention.

'A Life Hidden from View' is a candid look at my life through my eyes. I had a somewhat unconventional childhood, living a very secluded, mostly in solitude, life. Going to school wasn't without its dramas. Once the other children found out I was illegitimate, the bullying started. At senior school, circumstances led to me being sexually abused. When I left school, life improved for a while. I grew up into a very independent young woman. Supporting myself and doing really well at work. I do have a somewhat quirky outlook on life and my sense of humour reflects this, as you will see sprinkled throughout the pages. My feelings of isolation, not loneliness, has not stopped me doing what I want to do. I have travelled alone to various holiday destinations and enjoyed them all. I have enjoyed pastimes of dancing and being around horses for most of my adult life. I am currently researching to find my dad. Although I say I am mostly alone, I'm not really. I do tend to attract the supernatural and have seen, and been in the presence of, what some people may call ghosts. I don't quite view them like that. In my later years at work I was bullied, to the extent that I took early retirement to get away from it. Being bullied, abused and neglected for most of my life has resulted in me having long-lasting health issues. I want my book to be a help guide to any of my readers who may find themselves in similar situations. It is important that you tell someone, get the help you need and deal with it, so you can move on with your life. I hope my book helps.

- Why are there so many serial killers in the United States? - Why is American culture permeated with violence and cruelty? - Why should Jekyll and Hyde and the werewolf myth have such appeal in North American culture? - Could the global dissemination of American culture increase our murderous instincts?The author has provided an unexpected answer to these intriguing riddles as a result of his in-depth study of America's fascination with violence. He demonstrates that the representation of on-screen violence reflects America's deep-seated belief that society is only a fragile rampart holding at bay the beast latent in us all. It is this belief which has persuaded Americans to accept mechanized surveillance methods to catch criminals, and partly explains the proliferation of criminal legislation.This book argues that cultures which do not share this fear of hidden barbarity will remain unaffected by American-style violence. However, the author warns that if people do come to believe in the primacy of these primitive instincts, their children will have good reason to emulate what they see on screen.

In the wake of the 2011 UK riots and the British government's new American-style 'war on gangs', this book is the definitive account of 'how gangs work'. Based on two years of ethnographic fieldwork with gangs and drawing on a variety of sources, How Gangs Work provides a vivid portrayal of gang life, but not as the British traditionally know it.
The book deconstructs the mythology of gangs to make sense of the profiles and motivations of gang members in straightforward, rational terms. How Gangs Work examines the vital processes of evolution, organization, and recruitment within gangs and gang members' instrumental and expressive uses of violence, media, and technology. Special attention is paid to the role of gangs in the drugs trade and the relationship between gangs and organized crime. The book concludes with a critical appraisal of gang desistance and the precarious future of gang prevention and intervention, with practical advice for practitioners, police and policy-makers.

Ethnic and religious rivalries are major sources of conflict in South Asia and interpretations of the past are integral parts of the conflict. Udayakumar and his contributors provide a careful and comprehensive analysis of the interface between history writing, identity constructions, and intergroup relations. Providing a range of theoretical deliberations, they examine specific South Asian conflicts such as the Kashmir issue, Hindu-Muslim conflict, Sinhalese-Tamil strife, and the human rights struggles of oppressed castes.

With a view to understanding the ethnic and religious rivalries that have come to be a major source of conflict in South Asia, Udayakumar and his contributors analyze the interface between interpretations of the past, identity construction practices, and intergroup relations.

With general theoretical perspectives, contributors help to explain the various ethnic conflicts in South Asia and other parts of the world. The role of history, narratives, and violent pathologies in those conflicts are also explained. Some of the most prominent South Asian conflicts such as the Kashmir decision, Ramjanmabhumi temple, and historicity of caste system in India and the first comer controversy in Sri Lanka are analyzed in detail. One of the major conclusions reached is that there is an element of bigotry in certain historiographies and these bigoted histories and ethnic/religious histrionics build on and contribute to each other and thrive in certain environments. Elevating this debate to a more political level, the essays highlight the role of human agency in the decision to remain handcuffed to bigoted histories or to be more aware and struggle for new beginnings. They also examine the prospects and possible means of negating the unity of history and metanarratives (with their characteristic pathologies and violence) and proliferating many histories told from diverse perspectives. This book is a stimulating collection for scholars, students, and researchers dealing with South Asian history as well as current ethnic, political, and military tensions in the region.

Ashley Baggett uncovers the voices of abused women who utilized the legal system in New Orleans to address their grievances from the antebellum era to the end of the nineteenth century. Poring over 26,000 records, Baggett analyzes 421 criminal cases involving intimate partner violence - physical or emotional abuse of a partner in a romantic relationship - revealing a significant demand among women, the community, and the courts for reform in the postbellum decades. Before the Civil War, some challenges and limits to the male privilege of chastisement existed, but the gendered power structure and the veil of privacy for families in the courts largely shielded abusers from criminal prosecution. However, the war upended gender expectations and increased female autonomy, leading to the demand for and brief recognition of women's right to be free from violence. Baggett demonstrates how postbellum decades offered a fleeting opportunity for change before the gender and racial expectations hardened with the rise of Jim Crow. Her findings reveal previously unseen dimensions of women's lives both inside and outside legal marriage and women's attempts to renegotiate power in relationships. Highlighting the lived experiences of these women, Baggett tracks how gender, race, and location worked together to define and redefine gender expectations and legal rights. Moreover, she demonstrates recognition of women's legal personhood as well as differences between northern and southern states' trajectories in response to intimate partner violence during the nineteenth century.

I Am Not Your Victim vividly details the evolution of domestic violence during the 16-year marriage of author Beth Sipe. Encouraged to publish her story by her therapist and co-author, Evelyn J. Hall, Beth relates the background and events leading up to and immediately following the tragic act of desperation that ended the life of her sadistic perpetrator. Beth's subsequent mishandling by the police, the military, a mental health professional, and the welfare system illustrates how women like Beth face further revictimization and neglect by the very systems that should provide support and assistance. Insightful commentaries written by experts in the field follow Beth's story and deepen readers' understanding of the causes and process of spousal abuse, why battered women stay, and the dynamic consequences of domestic violence. This updated edition includes new commentaries and an epilogue that tracks what happened to Beth in the years following the book's publication.